Volume 03 Issue 12-2023
6
International Journal Of History And Political Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2222)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
12
P
AGES
:
6-11
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
713
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
ABSTRACT
The article describes the beginning of the First World War between the leading countries and the participation of the
1st Turkestan Army Corps in the military operations. The activities of the troops of the Turkestan district aimed at
protecting the interests of the Russian Empire were revealed in combat operations.
KEYWORDS
War, front, corps, battalion, Cossack, operation, artillery, headquarters, defense, offensive.
INTRODUCTION
On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-
Hungarian throne, was killed by Gavrilo Principe, a
member of the Serbian organization "Mlada Bosna" in
Sarajevo. As a result, World War I broke out between
the world's two leading military-political alliances
("Fourth Alliance" - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey,
Bulgaria and "Antanta" - Great Britain, France, Russia).
On August 1, the German ambassador von Purthales
handed the note about the declaration of war to the
Russian foreign minister S. D. Sazanov. Soon the rest of
the countries were drawn into the war.
DISCUSSION. At the beginning of the First World War,
general A.V. Samsonov (1909-1914), the commander of
the Turkestan Military District, and the 1st Turkestan
Army Corps were sent to the "Eastern Front" on the
borders of Germany and Austria-Hungary. General
Samsonov was given the command of the 2nd Russian
Army. However, Samsonov's participation in military
operations ended in tragedy. On August 26-30, 1914,
the Russian 2nd Army, consisting of 11 infantry and 3
cavalry
divisions,
was
defeated
by
General
Hindenburg's 8th German Army in the "Battle of
Tannenberg" in East Prussia. The Russians were
surrounded by the Germans in the Kaltenborn forest.
On August 30, Samsonov, deeply depressed by the
defeat of his troops, committed suicide near
Willenberg [1]. As a result of the defeat, 125,000 people
from Samsonov's army were captured. 40,000 people
Research Article
PARTICIPATION OF THE 1st TURKESTAN ARMY CORPS IN THE FIRST
WORLD WAR
Submission Date:
December 01, 2023,
Accepted Date:
December 05, 2023,
Published Date:
December 08, 2023
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/ijhps/Volume03Issue12-02
Ikhtiyor Bokhodirov
Senior Lecturer (Phd) Department Of "Social Sciences" Tashkent Financial Institute, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ijhps
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 03 Issue 12-2023
7
International Journal Of History And Political Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2222)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
12
P
AGES
:
6-11
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
713
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
died. Only 171 officers and 10,300 soldiers managed to
break through the siege [2]. General S. Scheideman
was appointed commander of the surviving parts of
the 2nd Army.
The High Command formed the 10th Army in Poland on
September 5, 1914, consisting of the 3rd Siberian Corps,
the 22nd Army Corps, and the 1st Turkestan Corps
under the command of general Yerofeyev, to replace
the destroyed 2nd Army [3]. The 10th Army was
deployed around the Bobr River. The command of the
10th Army was given to General von Flug. On
September 20, order №1068 of the headquarters of the
10th Army was issued on the formation of a new
composition of the 1st Turkestan Corps [4]. According
to the order, the 11th Siberian Rifle Division and the
Siberian Cossack Division were included in the 1st
Turkestan Army Corps.
The command of the 1st Turkestan Army Corps in IX.1914: [5]
Corps commander - infantry general Mikhail Rodionovich Yerofeyev
Commander of the 11
th
Siberian Rifle Division
general Zarakovsky
Commander of the 1
st
Turkistan Rifle Brigade
general Morjitsky
Commander of the 2
nd
Turkistan Rifle Brigade
general I.Kolpikov
Commander of the 1
st
Brigade of the 11
th
Siberian Divis.
general Raspopov
Commander of the 2
nd
Brigade of the 11
th
Siberian Divis.
colonel Berezin
Commander of the 11
th
Siberian Artillery Brigade
general Kozlovsky
Commander of the 1
st
Brigade of the Siber. Cossack Divis
general Usachev
In 1914, the first major military operation in which the
1st Turkistan Army Corps took part was the Augustov
Battle. On September 15, the 1st and 10th Russian
armies launched an offensive against the 8th German
army in the Augustov forest on the border of East
Prussia. On September 16-17, the 1st Turkestan Corps
defeated the German division of General von der Golt
south of Augustov and liberated Osovets. In the Battle
of Augustov, the 10th Russian Army cleared the
Osovets-Avgustov-Suvalki area from the enemy. 3000
prisoners, 20 cannons were captured. Despite the
success, General Flug was relieved of command of the
10th Army and replaced by General Sievers [6]. After
Augustov, in the battles of September 22-27, the 1st
Turkestan Army Corps captured the cities of Lik and
Biyalu in East Prussia. But at the beginning of October,
the 25th German reserve corps pushed out the
Turkestan corps from Lik. In this battle, the 1st
Turkestan Rifle Brigade under the command of General
Morjitsky suffered significant losses. After that, on
October 22, the Turkestan Corps was removed from
the 10th Army and included in the 1st Army of General
Rennenkampf, which was being reorganized around
Mlava on the southeastern border of Eastern Prussia.
Volume 03 Issue 12-2023
8
International Journal Of History And Political Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2222)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
12
P
AGES
:
6-11
SJIF
I
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FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
713
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
The composition of the 1st Turkestan Corps at the beginning of October 1914: [7]
Military unit
The composition of the
military unit
Commanders
1
st
Turkestan rifle
brigade
1
st
, 2
nd
rifle regiment
3
rd
,4
th
rifle regiment
Fedorov / Popovichenko
Pleshkov / Doljenko
2
nd
Turkestan rifle
brigade
5
th
,6
th
rifle regiment
7
th
,8
th
rifle regiment
Dushkin / Lyashkevich
Beyl / Suxorsky
1,2 rifle brigade of
11
th
Siberian divis.
4
st
,42
nd
rifle regiment
43
rd
,44
th
rifle regiment
Krementsky / Shutskoy
Berezin / Alekseyev
1st Turkestan Corps
sapper detachment
1
st
Turkestan sapper battal.
4
th
Siberian sapper battal.
colonel fon Gering
colonel Smirnov
Artillery units of the
1st Turkestan Corps
1
st
, 2
nd
Turk. artillery units
3
rd
,4
th
Siber. artillery units
Boyarsky / Putinsev
Dmitriev / Snejkin
1
st
Brigade of the
Siber. cossack divis.
4
th
Siber Cossack regiment
5th
Siber Cossack regiment
voys.starshina Vlasov
voys.starshina Grivanov
The participation of the troops of the 1st Turkestan
Corps in the battles of "Lodz" and "1st Prasnysh" in
Poland in 1914 is particularly noteworthy. "Operation
Lodz" took place on November 11-24, 1914. The German
command planned to break through the 1st and 2nd
Russian armies and then encircle the 2nd and 5th
Russian armies. On November 17-18, 5 German divisions
under the command of General Schaeffer broke
through Lodz and Lovich in order to encircle the city of
Lodz and the 2nd Russian army. On November 19, by
the order of General Rennenkampf, the "Lovich
detachment" consisting of the 9th and 10th Turkestan
rifle regiments and the 6th Siberian divisions under the
command of F.P. Panov and S.S. Kochaunov was
formed to defend the Lodz road[13]. On November 22,
the 2nd and 5th Russian armies from the south and
west, and the Lovich detachment from the east moved
against Sheffer. In the battle on November 9(22), the
9th and 10th Turkestan rifle regiments captured about
2,000 German soldiers [8]. In order not to be
surrounded, Schaeffer orders his troops to retreat. The
Germans lost 50,000 men in the Lodz operation [9].
After the operation, General Sheideman was removed
from his post and replaced by General Yerofeyev as the
commander of the Turkestan Corps.
On November 20-27, 1914, in the "1st Battle of
Prasnish", the 1st Turkistan Corps, under the command
of General N.P. Bobir (1854-1920), as part of the
"Narevoldi Army Group", successfully fought in the
Mlava region. In the 1st Battle of Prasnish, the
Narewoldi group fought against 18 German battalions,
42-45 squadrons and 80 artillery pieces. In battles with
this group, the Germans lost 15,000 soldiers in Zoldau
and 6,000 in Tsekhanov until November 16 (29)[11]. On
November 20-27, in the battles around Prasnish,
soldiers of the Turkestan Corps managed to capture 4
cannons and more than 1000 soldiers [10].
The 1st Turkestan Army Corps took an active part in the
"2nd battle of Prasnysh", which was aimed at the
Volume 03 Issue 12-2023
9
International Journal Of History And Political Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2222)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
12
P
AGES
:
6-11
SJIF
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FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
713
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
defense of Prasnysh, located at the intersection of the
main highways north of Warsaw, on the Eastern Front
from February 20 to March 30, 1915. As a result of the
attacks on February 26, the 1st Siberian and 1st
Turkestan corps together captured 40 German officers
and 3,600 soldiers in the Prasnish area [12]. On
February 27, the city of Prasnish was recaptured. By
March 30, German troops were pushed into the
territory of East Prussia.
The period of greatest losses and failures for the
Turkestan Corps on the Eastern Front was in the
summer-autumn of 1915. During this period, Russian
troops were forced to leave Poland, Lithuania and
Belarus to avoid being encircled ("The Great Retreat").
The battles that determined the results of the war in
this period were the "3rd Battle of Prasnish" (30.06. -
5.07.) and "Operations Narev" (13.07. - 2.08.).
During the “Great Retreat”, the 1st Army, which
included the 1st Turkestan Corps, was assigned the task
of holding the defense until the Russian troops in
Poland retreated to the desired positions. In the 3rd
Battle of Prasnish, the 1st Turkestan Corps fought
against the 11th and 17th Corps of the 12th German
Army [14]. At the beginning of the battle, the
composition of the 1st Turkestan Army Corps consisted
of 35 battalions, 22 Cossack units and 104 cannons [15].
On June 30, a strong German attack began. The main
blow fell on the shoulders of the corps of the 1st
Turkestan division of the 11th Siberian division. In the
hours before the attack, the trenches of the 11th
Siberian Division were bombarded with about 500,000
German shells. The 11th Siberian Division resisted
fiercely. After 14 hours of fighting, about 5,000 of the
14,500 soldiers of the 11th Siberian Division survived. As
a result, the division, which lost 70% of its personnel,
had to retreat 7-8 kilometers [16].
After Prasnish, in the "Battle of Narev", the 1st
Turkestan Corps was assigned the task of preventing
the Germans from crossing the Narev River in the
defense line of Pultusk. On July 13 (26), in the village of
Severinka near the Narev River, the 3rd Battalion of the
11th Turkestan Regiment under the command of
Lieutenant Colonel Gorn repelled the enemy's attempt
to breach the defense. Gorn himself was killed in the
battle [17]. In the battle of Narev, the 2nd and 4th
Russian armies were withdrawn from Poland without
too much loss due to the good defense of the 1st and
12th Russian armies.
In 1916, the main confrontations in the First World War
took place in the south-west of the Eastern Front. To
regain the lands lost in 1915, between May 22 (June 4)
and September 7 (20), the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th
Russian armies under the general command of the
Austro-Hungarian Front carried out a large-scale
attack. This entered the history of the First World War
under the name "Brusilov breakthrough".
In the Brusilov operation, the troops of the Turkestan
military district took an active part in the battles of
"Yazlovets", "Stokhod", "Baranovichi" and "Kovel".
The 3rd Turkestan Rifle Division of the 7th Russian
Army crushed the Yazlovets defense position, which
was considered impregnable by the enemy around the
Olkhovets and Stripe rivers. The 3rd Turkestan Division
captured 235 Austrian officers and 9,700 soldiers in
Yazlovets on May 24-25 (June 6-7)[18]. As a result of the
victory in Yazlovets, the 7th Army entered the area
behind the Stripe River. This victory was the prelude to
Brusilov's breakthrough.
In June-July, the 1st Turkestan Corps of the 8th Russian
Army reached the Stokhod River with significant
success. The 7th and 8th Turkestan regiments crossed
the Stokhod river for a certain time. The 1st Turkestan
Corps defeated General Fat's Corps of 34,400 men
Volume 03 Issue 12-2023
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International Journal Of History And Political Sciences
(ISSN
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VOLUME
03
ISSUE
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(2023:
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1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
around Tuman and Razinich. In the Battle of Stokhod,
the 3.8th Russian armies captured 21,766 soldiers
(12,000 were captured by Turkestan Corps soldiers). As
a result, on June 25, German general Lisingen was
forced to withdraw his troops behind Stokhod. The
Germans recognized this defeat as one of the most
serious crises in the East [19].
On June 20 - July 12, in the "Battle of Baranovich" in
Belarus, the 7th Turkestan Rifle Division and the 1st
Turkestan Cossack Division of the 4th Russian Army
fought against the German 9th Army. But the 4th army
failed at Baranovichi and 80,000 soldiers died [20]. In
July-August, the 1st Turkestan Army Corps participated
in the "Battle of Kovel" in Galicia in the Rudka
Mirinskaya area. In the attack on July 21, 600 people
were captured by Turkestan district and 12 machine
guns of the enemy were captured [21]. The Russians
won the Battle of Kovel, but they could not capture the
city of Kovel.
As a result of the summer offensives on the South-
Western Front, Russian troops achieved major
victories in Galicia and Bukovina. About 1 million
Austro-Hungarian soldiers are killed and wounded, and
400,000 are captured. As a result of the attack, the
Russian army 60-150 km [22]. moved forward. These
successes gave a great impetus to Romania's entry into
the war on the side of the Entente on August 27. Since
December 1916, the Eastern Front entered a period of
stagnation.Neither side will significantly change the
situation on the fronts. On February 23, 1917, as a result
of revolutionary movements, the Romanov dynasty in
the Russian Empire overturns. These events started a
new era in the history of Turkestan military district and
district troops on war fronts.
CONCLUSION
it can be said that the First World War and the
participation of the Russian Empire in it did not bypass
Turkestan. The regular army corps and European
population in the THO were mobilized to the war
fronts. The participation of the 1st Turkestan Army
Corps in the First World War is characterized by the
constant mobilization of corps troops to the most
important battlefields on the fronts. In this case, the 1st
Turkestan Corps did not act as part of a single army, but
was sent to the armies that needed auxiliary forces on
the fronts. The corps has demonstrated itself several
times during military operations.
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Volume 03 Issue 12-2023
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International Journal Of History And Political Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2222)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
12
P
AGES
:
6-11
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
705
)
(2022:
5.
705
)
(2023:
6.
713
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
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